( Post 26 – * Bonus Post * )

Remember that time we published 25 posts in one month? We decided that we’d return with another one-off post (not another 25 – don’t worry!) for January 2016, marking Computer Recruiter‘s 26th anniversary. So, without further ado, we present to you another interview, this time with a South Wales-based business that has both tech and Wales at its core…

Hi, Team Applingua. Please introduce yourself! What do you do?

Hi! Applingua is a hassle-free translation agency, specialising in translating and localising iOS and OS X apps. Rob started Applingua over five years ago and has been helping developers around the world bring their apps to international markets ever since. With a base in Cardiff, Sarah joined a couple of years later and we’ve gone from strength to strength.

Apps in Welsh is a directory of all apps available to use in Welsh, created by Applingua in collaboration with the Welsh Government. It’s designed to help people find apps available in Welsh, as at the moment trying to find out which apps are available in other languages is quite hard via the official app stores. We wanted to make it easy for people to find apps to use in their native language.

What benefits are there to people who use the directory? We previously reported how there have been initiatives to try and improve IT/computing/coding in Welsh primary and secondary schools… Do you think that schools could benefit by using the directory?

No matter what language you speak, it’s always nice to be able to use technology in your native tongue. However, finding apps that speak your language isn’t always easy, so we’re hoping that the directory will be that bridge for people, to make it simple to find apps they know will be in Welsh.

We also think it’ll be a useful site for schools as there are (at current count) 54 education apps available in Welsh, but teachers don’t always have time to search for them. We’re hoping that as more people use the directory and the apps, more developers will see the benefits of translating their apps into Welsh.

Absolutely! A couple of years ago, Apple opened up the operating system found on Apple’s iPads and iPhones allowing your device to run in almost any language. Unfortunately it isn’t feasible for them to translate the system into every language but it does allow developers to natively support languages like Welsh, which is exactly what we’ve been doing with the Apps in Welsh project.

Check out our video here for instructions on how to change your device into Welsh – or watch below:

Will you be an AM (an Acronym Master) or be considered NOGOOD (Not Good At Acronyms)? Take the quiz and find out…

But wait, there’s more! If you publish your score on Twitter, you will be entered into a competition and could win one of three £25 iTunes vouchers! Look out for the ‘Tweet’ button once you’ve completed the quiz in order to share it on social media. (For full terms and conditions, please see the bottom of this post, below the quiz.)

Please note: The competition is now closed, but you can still do the quiz regardless!

It’s also at this point that we’d like to say a massive, massive thank you to everyone involved with CR 25 – we’ve had a great month and a great 25 years… Thank you!!!

Your Score:

Your Acronym Ranking:

( Post 24 of 25 )

For the penultimate post of our CR 25 campaign, we came up with the idea to compare 25 of our CVs from 1990 – when we first opened shop as an IT recruitment agency – to 25 from more recently (during the year 2014). Once we had the data in our hands, had taken a look at it, analysed it and compared it, we realised that it would be really good to display the comparisons visually, side-by-side. Infographics have become a really popular way of doing exactly that, but we also wanted to explain and give our thoughts on the data as we went along, which would have made the infographic very text-heavy (and very long). So we came up with an alternative approach…

Ladies and gentlemen, we present the first (to our knowledge) ‘dissected’ infographic! The full (text-light) infographic is shown at the bottom of this post, but before that, each section (a.k.a. data point) is displayed individually, with a bit of text under each section giving our observations on the differences that 25 years makes in the IT industry in the UK (and especially South Wales).

Just remember:

1990 is on the left

and

2014 is on the right

Here we go…

Gender

There has been a major discussion in recent years about the gender divide in the IT industry. Six months ago, the BBC reported that “women account for just 16% of the UK IT workforce.” Sadly, our data roughly backs this up… As expected, there has been an increase in the number of women that we have received CVs from (from 4% in 1990 to 12% in 2014, based on our samples of data), but it’s not a significant leap.

The BBC article goes on to suggest that the problem “starts early” – i.e. when children are in school. Hopefully, some of the cool things going on with ICT/Computer Science in primary and secondary schools at the moment (as highlighted in one of our posts from last week) will help to change the situation in the coming years, and that we’ll begin to see not only more people entering IT as a profession, but more women doing so as well.

Year of Birth (Earliest vs. Latest)

There’s not really much to take away from this, but we thought that it was interesting how there is a 46-year difference between 1990’s oldest candidate and 2014’s youngest. In fact, when we received a CV from a 43-year-old candidate in 1990, our youngest in 2014 still wouldn’t be born for another three years…

Country

The vast majority of CVs that we receive are from UK residents, and coincidentally all 50 CVs that we analysed seemed to fit that criteria. We thought that maybe we’d see more CVs from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and further afield in 2014, but in fact we saw the opposite: we received more CVs from candidates already residing in Wales than we did back in 1990.

County (Wales)

…And speaking of Wales, we dove into the geographical breakdown a little further and distinguished the difference between which Welsh counties* our CVs came from. There hasn’t been much change over the years, with the majority coming from the South Glamorgan area (which includes Cardiff).

( Post 23 of 25 )

If you think that your IT job is future-proof, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at our earlier post showing five IT roles that have already gone the way of the dodo…

Technology may be the future, but as technology develops, humans often find themselves inched out by increasingly clever software and big industry changes.

The irony is that the very thing which attracted you to an IT role in the first place could be the thing which forces you to “adapt or die” (professionally speaking). Technology can be an alluringly fast-paced world, which means that the roles it creates are incredibly susceptible to change. If you want to thrive in tech over the long term, you need to be ready to adapt, spot trends in your industry and keep pace with changing roles and requirements.

While you’re at it, you should probably avoid becoming pigeon-holed in the following professions, too…

1) SEO specialists

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in its purest form is on its way out as we speak. Today, digital marketing may use elements of SEO as part of an overall strategy, but this role is no longer a standalone profession. Former SEOs have had to rethink their role, retraining and rebranding as digital marketers.

It’s impossible to predict how we will be accessing and using the web in 2025, and while many people have cried “SEO is dead” over the years, SEO won’t truly die unless search engines cease to exist. However it’s a fairly safe bet that climbing the search engines solely relying on techniques such as keyword optimisation and link building could be well and truly a thing of the past.

2) Data Entry Roles

If you’re working in data entry, it may be time to update your skill set.

( Post 22 of 25 )

“What do you look for in an employer?” We asked this question to 8 developers, engineers, consultants, etc. native to the South Wales region. Some work for small, up-and-coming startups while others work for medium-sized agencies and large companies.

We hope that employers (not just in South Wales, but anywhere in the world) will read the responses and take them into account when they are employing for IT staff of their own.

All of the answers are below, sorted alphabetically by surname. And just like last time, right at the bottom of this post, we have summarised our findings based on the most commonly-given answers – a roundup summary of sorts. Have fun reading them…!

Buy As You View provides finance for household goods such as electricals, furniture and appliances. Mark also has a personal porfolio site at designmb.co.uk.

Having recently joined Buy As You View, I was looking for an employer where hard work and results were recognised and rewarded. In previous jobs I felt that very often working extra hours and going beyond the call of duty had become the norm and, as such, had become very much a one-way street. At Buy As You View I still have the same work ethic and I do go above and beyond what is expected of me but it has been recognised and rewarded. I enjoy a great relationship with my line manager who is very flexible with me should I need to do the school run or leave early occasionally, because he knows that should he need me to stay late or work in the evening, I will. I think it is important to have that mutual respect and flexibility because it creates a positive atmosphere within the team of wanting to work hard for the cause but with a good work/life balance too.

I think it is important to have that mutual respect and flexibility because it creates a positive atmosphere within the team.

I was also looking for an employer who would listen to my ideas and who would offer me a career progression if I wanted to move up. This is important to me so that I have something to aim for rather than feel as if I was stuck in my current role.

Finally, I think it is important that you enjoy your job because I think the best way to ensure an employee performs at their best is if they are passionate about what they are doing and they enjoy doing it. I feel lucky that I have found this at Buy As You View.

Big Mallet is a digital agency specialising in Drupal. Peter also offers branding, design, and development services in his own right at xanthestudios.co.uk.

Common questions that I have been asked in interviews are “What are your aspirations?” and “Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?”

The answers I have given have always been the same and based around the following points:

An environment that I enjoy going to

Work that I enjoy doing

The ability to support my family

The chance to develop both professionally and personally

Many people may see this as a lack of ambition but I’m at the point in my career where these are the important factors to me in choosing an employer; this isn’t to say that I would automatically turn down an offer of leadership and responsibility. But I’m a developer and hacking code – especially HTML and Sass – is what I enjoy doing.

In choosing to work with a company, I look for flexibility first. I’m someone who is ill-suited to the starched collar of the corporate world, so remote working and flexible hours are an absolute must. What drives me is building efficient systems with smart people; to me, the corporate world simply seems to get in the way of that with its endless bean-counting and lumbering movement. As such, I’m absolutely delighted to have found Radify.io – we are a tight distributed team who solve interesting problems with technology. I love to be fully engaged in an organisation rather than being compartmentalised – so full stack development, as well as opportunities to speak at conferences and contribute to blogging output and so forth is essential to me.

What I love about Radify is the continuous improvement. We are very intentional about what we do and frequently take a step back to look at what we do, why we do it and how we can do it better. There’s a clear sense of progression and to me it’s very important to always be improving.